Brotherhood of the Traveling Jacket
by strawberryfinn
Summary: Jason. Troy. Ryan. Chad. Best friends, best brothers. They've been together almost forever, but what happens when they have to split up for the summer and they find a jacket? [Based on Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants].
1. Prologue

**Author's Note**: Wrote this for _The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants_ section, but I decided to use edit and replace and post it here. Sorry, I'm a butt, I know-check the other section for the original. Don't own _High School Musical_ or the characters. Parody, cute, brotherhood... yeah. Hope you enjoy.

**The Brotherhood of the Traveling Jacket**

Prologue:

Once upon a time there were four boys who were all different shapes and sizes—well actually that's not true—they were all tall and skinny, but you know what I mean. They all had different personalities, but one day they found a flannel-like sort of leathery jacket that fit (and looked good) on every single one of them. You may think that this is a fairy tale, but it's not, because not everybody lived happily ever after. You may think that it's just a tall-tale or something but it's not. How do I know? I'm one of them. I'm part of the Brotherhood of the Traveling Jacket.

My name is Ryan. I'm the one who found that jacket in the first place. Yeah, I'll admit it. One day I was just walking by this thrift shop with the guys during the summer—it's called Rainbow's or something, and I decided to go in. (Yeah, I'll admit that too).

It was sort of a dingy shop with the light through the rafters that's too bright, but some areas aren't bright—and you get the idea. Patched on wall-paper, windows with peeling off weird tape, etc. Well anyway, some people say guys don't like shopping. Well they're wrong. We do.

Jason—the punk, started looking for new earrings. Maybe I should describe some of them to you. Anyway, continuing with Jason—he has a bunch of piercings—some could label him as a rebel, but he's not really, if you think about it. Most rebels are angry, and scream at the world—hate it actually. Jason sort of loves his life, but in a different way. He's one of those guys in a separate reality or something. He lives in his own world, and accepts things slowly, but he likes to stand out. Jason is someone that I would label as a leader. He has these thoughtful brown eyes, but he never decides to blurt something out unless he thinks about it first. He'll listen to everything you say before giving you a reply—in that way, he's a great listener and I like talking to him. He used to be really different—this jock, but then… I don't know, all the sudden he started closing up and keeping more of his feelings to himself. But he's kind of got this attitude that's just like, I-don't-care-about-this-it's-not-important to me. So I guess he's good at comforting, but he keeps his own feelings to himself—rather introverted, I guess.

Well Jason was scanning the earring section, and Chad yelled out, "Pierce alert!"

Chad—I don't know what to call Chad. The clown? Something? Chad is the person in your life who leads his and all others' lives. He herds you around like a sheepdog. He's like the Road Runner from the cartoons—always moving ahead, always looking towards the future. But unlike some people like that, he's always there to listen to you, but likes to butt in. What does he look like? Longish, sort of curly brown hair and brown eyes that are always full of light and excitement. Chad is a different one; a great fan of sugar and coffee, he always seems to have a steady flow of energy: I don't think I've ever seen him tired. He's definitely the jock—loves basketball, loves sports… yeah.

Troy smiled. "Better get him to try on something else."

Troy. If anybody's a mystery, it's Troy. He is good-looking, but self-conscious about it. No, you're not getting the picture. Let's see… intense brown bangs brushing over wide eyebrows, eyes the color of the bluest skies, a great smile with full lips and bright, straight teeth. (It sort of helps that he brushes them too). But the weird thing is—well you know how some guys get all cocky when they're handsome and everything? Troy's not. He seems almost embarrassed about his looks—like if people look at him, they judge him by his looks and not how he really is. They assume things without well… actually getting to know him. He's been asked to model so many times, and he's turned down all the offers. He's had one girlfriend, Gabriella, but she eventually broke up with him because he was to predictable and hasn't been the same since—though many girls _have_ tried to talk to him and stuff. Let's just say Troy is not the person you go with when you want to find a date. They forget about you, and focus on your friend. He used to be a lot more open; like constantly talking and always excited and great at sports—which he still is, it's just that Chad has surpassed his skills now, and I don't know… he's just different now.

Anyway, back to the story. I grabbed a random jacket, shoved it at Jason, and stuffed him into a dressing room. "Put it on!"

Me? I don't know what I am. Maybe the writer… the reader? As Chad would say, "Ryan doesn't have that much, but he makes up for it in personality," which personally I prefer better than "Troy has everything, but his personality is like a piece of cheese," where Troy promptly picked up a rock and threw it at his head, and Chad still has that scar. My hair is really whitish-blonde, and cut short. My eyes are really, really blue, like light blue. I'm pretty tall and pretty skinny too. I eat a lot, but I don't seem to put on any weight. It's sort of weird actually. Anyway, I don't know what I am. I haven't figured it out yet. I play electric bass, Troy plays electric guitar and Jason plays drums and Chad sings, and we have started a band. But bluntly putting it—we stink. Our band is called "Hearts Rendered Useless," and we can play—but we don't have too much dedication. Well I do. But the guys don't. Oh, I'm a drama dork. I sing, I dance, I won't shut up for a second sometimes, but I'm not good at expressing my feelings. I'm really overdramatic, I know, it's just that I say things I don't mean sometimes, and I have a twin sister who I'm constantly in the shadow of—her name's Sharpay. It's just when I get out with the guys when I can start actually being myself.

I've forgotten to mention that this was the summer and we'd all just gotten out of school. We all go to the same school—East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico. All our lives since we were like one or something, we'd spent all our summers together. This was the first year we were splitting up.

How did we get so close? This story is a bit embarrassing, but just listen, ok? Our parents used to be tight; (I'm crossing my fingers right now—yeah they were like this). Our dads were in a band called the "Bipolar Clouds" (I know, what the heck?) According to Jason's mom, all they did was sit around and eat potato chips. Impressive, huh? Well all our moms sat around talking about their bum husbands, and when we were born (all over the process of three months), they still wanted to talk about their bum husbands. It was like some joy they had or something, and the dads still wanted to eat potato chips. Yep.

Over the years, our parents have spread apart, but we've stayed the same. Well almost. I mean, we've changed and all, but we're still best buds. Our friendship has been tested a few times, like the time Chad's dad died, (our parents sort of drifted apart after that) and the time where my dad took off and moved to West Virginia leaving Sharpay and me alone, but we've managed to get through it. We've always had each other. But this summer, we wouldn't. But the jacket kept us together. This is our story—laced together by the jacket, like shoelaces on a shoe.

**Author's Note**: This is going to be a bit different than the original; got to incoporate Sharpay and others into the story, you know? Anyways, want more, review please. A bit OOC I know, but you have to remember, these used to be my own original characters,but I wanted some High School Musical brotherhoods.

-Finn


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: Thanks for the reviews. I had to do some major editing to make it fit the characters. Oh, OOC means "Out of Character." Yeah. Chapter 1 for you.

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**CHAPTER 1**

"…_The true test of manhood is helping, not fighting." –Voice of Youth Advocates

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"Put it on," yelped Ryan as he shoved a random jacket towards Jason. He hurriedly pushed Jason into a dressing room before he could run out and get the earring that he'd been fingering longingly.

Jason opened up the curtains. "So?" He walked out hesitantly, looking doubtfully at the jacket that Ryan had given him.

Troy stared. "Jason, you look amazing."

"Really?" Jason said, looking at his reflection in the mirror. He realized that he did look great. The jacket, which was a darkish green color went great with his short spiky dark brown hair, and emphasized his piercings. His arms seemed to fit in the jacket and the jacket wrapped around his broad shoulders—which was surprising—on many occasions Jason's sleeves had been to long for him. It traced down to around his knees—well it _was _one of those long jackets, like blazers for boys—but didn't make him look like he was wearing a dress or something. His brown eyes seemed to shine more with the darker jacket, which happened to be one of those button-up ones that he would never wear. (He usually didn't care what he wore—mainly Jason wore brand names and jeans that were all ripped up. Jason preferred zip-up jackets or sweatshirts usually ugly and black).

"Here," he said, pulling off the jacket and throwing it to Chad. "You like jackets—you put it on."

Chad pulled on the jacket on top of his "Easily Distracted" shirt. He slowly buttoned it, tracing his fingers over the small button pins attached to the collar; one which read "_You only have one life. Do something._"

Then he turned around, waiting for his friends' approval.

"Chad you fool," said Ryan in a teasing voice. "When did you get so hot?"

The jacket wasn't as long on Chad as it was on Troy, but it had the same effect. His coffee-colored bush of hair blended with the green in the coat, making him look like the perfection of nature and the faint greenish tints made his eyes look like a dark tree bark from one of those vacation magazines. The jacket was long enough to cover his long arms—Chad's arms were longs while Jason's were a bit shorter—and they seemed to hug his waist, making him look thin and tall and elegant, like some sort of duke or prince. A very strange prince. This however, was exactly the type of clothing Chad liked. He arched his eyebrows, studying himself in the mirror as he ran his hand over his rather tan skin.

"Well, I am b-e-a-utiful, aren't I?" he said, grinning, and arching another eyebrow.

"Stuff it," said Jason, a bit put off that Chad looked so good in the jacket, that maybe he couldn't compete with his friend's looks.

"Don't worry Jason," Chad tried to comfort him, "you looked as great as I did, maybe I just looked a tad better."

"Ah shut up," said Ryan amiably, stroking his blonde hair.

Troy was standing awkwardly near a clothing rack. He knew what was coming next.

"Here Troy," said Chad, handing him the jacket. "You try it on, Mr. Gorgeous."

Troy's face colored, and he grabbed the jacket, pulling it on, his fingers fumbling as he buttoned it.

"Troy you show-off," Ryan yelped, "you just had to make us all feel bad, now did you?"

Troy blushed, "No."

"He's just kidding," snapped Chad impatiently. "Turn around."

Troy turned slowly, and Chad grinned. "You're right Ryan. He did have to make us feel bad."

The green jacket seemed to close over Troy's broad shoulders, and wrapped around his muscular frame. It hugged his waistline, and the dark green color brought out the lightness of the blue color in his eyes, making them look like light blue slivers of ice. It brought out the tanness of his skin, making him even more model-like than usual. It even brought out the dark lashes that covered his eyes, and his intense bangs stood out even more than usual. This however, was not something Troy would usually wear. He usually wore plain clothing—jeans and t-shirts (without brand names), that did not draw more attention to himself that his looks already did.

Nervously, and almost eager to get rid of it, he pulled it off and handed it to Ryan, saying, "You try it."

Singing was for Troy—not clothing. He was an amazing actor and singer—well in fact, he _was_ going to some sort of a performing arts camp this summer. Chad was heading for a camp for those who had "athletic" talents—in his case, any sports at all. Ryan had broken out laughing the first time he heard where the both of them were going. Troy was a great singer, but he hated singing in public—because… well, let's just say he had reached puberty and his voice was going through a bizarre stage. Jason was staying at home, and Ryan was going to visit his dad, who he flat-out hated, and was only visiting because his mom made him. He was going by himself too; Sharpay absolutely refused to see her father.

Ryan accepted the jacket from Troy, and pulled it on, flexing in the mirror. Troy grinned.

Ryan turned around, swiping back a few stray hairs from his forehead. "Well you guys?"

They were staring in amazement. "Oh my God Ryan," whispered Jason.

"What?" Ryan quickly looked around. "Do I look bad or something?" He started to rip off the jacket, but there was a cry of protest from Chad.

"Bad?" Chad gasped. "Ryan you look b-e-a-utiful, if you don't mind me saying…"

Ryan studied himself in the mirror. He did. It was the truth. The jacket seemed to make his hair glow a shiny blonde and his eyes looked as if he had suddenly outlined them in eyeliner. The color of his eyes was brought out like a tall, icy mountain or something. The jacket bent inwards and made him look intense and dramatic as it wrapped over his thin shoulders. The dark color made him look fragile and dramatic, emphasizing his pale white skin—unlike the others, Ryan didn't tan easily. He whirled around to look at his friends, and it was like fire had burned against him and everything seemed to stop.

"This jacket is magic."

**Author's Note**: Thanks for the reviews. Hope you still like enough to review more. I had to do some major editing from the first one.

-Finn


End file.
